What is Pressible?
Pressible is a publishing platform powered by WordPress. Pressible users can create their own sites or contribute to existing sites in the Pressible network. Pressible is designed with students and educators in mind, but its dynamic features can meet a variety of needs.

Why should I use Pressible?

It’s easy to use, easy to manage. Just write, tag, and click “Publish,” and Pressible automatically organizes your site’s content by Posts, Topics, Tags, Comments, and Users. Authors can add bios to their Profile pages, and create About pages for their sites.

It’s focused. A Pressible site is like a blog, but streamlined for elegant and effective communication. Every Pressible site guides its author(s) and audience to optimize their page rank and create a powerful publishing platform. The best way to grow a community around a Pressible Site is to publish great content, promote your RSS feed, and track your traffic via Google Analytics. We think tools like Pressible are the future of online publishing.

It’s networked. Your site is automatically networked with the other sites on Pressible, whose users will be exposed to your content through our Related Content and Reposting tools. We hope that by creating a network of great sites, users will be inspired to seek out related content.

Should I get a Pressible site, or just an account? How do I do it?
If you want to contribute to an existing site, all you need to do is get a Pressible account. Those who have never used Pressible and want to get their own site should get a site with their account.

To do either, go to pressible.org. In the “Join Pressible” box, type in your desired username and your Teachers College or Columbia University email address. Choose either “Give me a Pressible site” or “Just a Pressible account.” Click “Next.”

If signing up for a site, you will also choose your site’s URL (____________.pressible.org) and title. For both the account and the site, you will receive an email with an activation link to set up a password and begin using Pressible.

Currently only individuals affiliated with Teachers College, Columbia University can join Pressible and get a site, but Site Administrators can add anyone on an existing site.

I’ve never used WordPress before; what do I need to know?
Pressible is built on WordPress, an open source application. It allows us at Pressible to improve and expand our offerings with the support of WordPress’s elegent back-end code.

By being part of the Pressible community, you’ll also benefit from the knowledge of the greater WordPress community: many of the questions you might have can be answered by checking the WordPress support pages of user-contributed help and advice. Pressible gives you all the flexibility and benefits of WordPress, but in a unique network of like-minded sites with access to our ever-growing suite of tools and widgets.

How do Topics function in Pressible?
Topics are broad, general categories. Assigning posts to one or more Topics ensures that they will be grouped with like posts. When you click on a Topic on your site, Pressible automatically generates a page listing the most recent Posts, Contributors (Users), and Comments in that Topic. Here’s how to start making Topics:

Categorize Posts. Before you publish a new post, make sure to tic the appropriate Topic(s). This will make your entry searchable across your entire site.

Describe Topics. On your Dashboard, go to Posts > Topics. Use a category for each of your Topics, adding its name and a brief description.

How do Tags function in Pressible?Tags are like keywords. They describe the content of a specific post. Tags should be short and accurate, using as many as needed to give a sense of the post’s contents. A few tips:

Be consistent. If you often write about Antarctica, don’t tag one entry with “Antarctica” and another entry with “The Antarctic.” Consistency will group related content together in a way that’s easy to see and navigate.

Be subject-focused. Tags should represent major ideas, themes, and subject material in a specific post. Try to avoid “one-off” tags that will likely never be used again, or tags so general they don’t do much to describe the content.

Think about your presence. Our Related Content tool disseminates content to other sites based on the way posts are tagged. Using the same tags as your colleagues will make it more likely your content will come up on their sites, meaning more traffic for you.

Adding images and videos to a post.To upload an image from your computer:

In the box that appears, click “Browse” to find the image you want to upload on your computer. Select the appropriate file and click “Upload.”

A new box will appear in which you can edit the image. Add a title, caption, description, and determine the size and placement of the image within the post. *Tip: for larger images, it may be helpful to use a scaled-down image size to avoid weird breaks in the post.

Click “Insert into Post” to immediately insert the image where your cursor is in the post body.

If you want to wait until later to add the image, click “Save all changes.” When you’re ready to insert the image, go back to Add Media, and click the Gallery tab. Click “Show” next to the image you want to add, and do as above to insert.

To add a video from the web using a URL:
Pressible supports oEmbed, a protocol for embedding content from outside sources. It’s super-easy to embed content with oEmbed:

Load the image or video you want to embed in a separate browser window or tab.

Copy the image/video’s URL from the address bar

Paste it in the body of the post or page you want

This page has an excellent description on oEmbed, including a list of supported sites.

To add a video using an embed code:

Copy the embed code from the original site.

Start a new post and paste the code in the Embed box:

Note that some less common embed codes will not work properly. Please contact us to learn more.

Add a title, tags, and some editorial description to the Post before you publish.

Can I add my own domain name to a Pressible site?
Yes. If you’ve purchased a domain name and would like to map it to your Pressible site, use Dashboard > Tools. Before adding your domain to your Pressible site via the Dashboard, allow sufficient time for your domain to propagate to Pressible’s IP address (we recommend 24 hours).

Can I change the way my name displays on my site?
Perhaps when you set up your account, you made your username your nickname, or your dog’s name, or the AIM screenname you’ve been using since you were 12, and now all your posts appear to have been made by someone called SnookumsForPrez7912. Perhaps this is not how you want your colleagues and the greater internet to know you. Luckily, you can change your name!

– Go to your Dashboard and click “Your Profile”.

– Under the “Name” section, add your first name, last name, and a nickname (if you have an informal name you like to go by. Then…

– Click the dropdown menu directly below labelled “Display name publicly as”. Pressible will generate display names from the information you’ve just entered. Select the one you like.

– Scroll to the end of the page and click “Update Profile”. Congratulations, Snookums; your identity is saved.

How do I add my picture to my profile and site?
Pressible recognizes Gravatars, or globally-recognized avatars. A gravatar is like an ID photo that follows you wherever the Gravatar function is enabled. Every time you post or comment on any Pressible site, a gravatar will appear to identify you.

If you haven’t set up a Gravatar in the past, here’s how to get one:

– Go to http://en.gravatar.com/ and click Get Your Gravatar today.

– Enter your email address and click Sign Up. This MUST be the same email address you use in Pressible.

– Check your email for the activation link. Follow that link to choose your Username and Password. *Pressible recommends using your real first and last name. Gravatar usernames cannot change, and we’ve found this guideline works best and minimizes namers’ remorse.

– Add a picture from your computer or from a website by following the instructions on the page. You’ll be able to crop your image to the necessary size. Once you have the picture and cropping you like, click “Crop and Finish”.

– Once your Gravatar is set, it will automatically appear in Pressible.

How do I add users to my site?
Users can be Site Owners, Administrators, Editors, Authors, Contributors, or Subscribers. and the Site Owner app. There are two methods to initiate the “Add User” process:

First method: Administrators can add users as follows: To add one or more users, log in and go to the Dashboard. Click the “Users” tab and click the “Add New” button near the top of the page.

You will be asked to enter the user’s Username and Email address. If the user you are adding already has a Pressible account, it is important to get the person’s correct username and email address; you will be unable to add the user unless both username and email are correct.

After entering their information you will be able to assign the user’s role. See the descriptions below for a brief description of each role available. When you’ve selected the user’s role, click “Add User.” The user will be sent an invitation email at the email address you specified. Once verified via email, the user will be able to use your site according to the privileges you’ve set in the specified role.

User Roles:

Site Owner: There is only one Site Owner – usually the user who created the site. This can only be changed on the Settings > General tab.

Administrator: An administrator has all the same privileges the blog owner enjoys: ability to change display and administration controls; add and delete users; edit, review, and delete other users’ posts or comments; moderate comments; add or edit topics; write and publish posts.

Author: Write and publish posts immediately without approval; no access to other users’ posts or comments; cannot add or edit topics (categories).

Contributor: Submit posts or comments, but these must be approved by an Editor or Administrator before they are published; edit user profile.

Subscriber: Leave comments (which do not need to be approved by an Administrator); edit user profile. *Because of how Pressible is designed, there is currently no reason to add Subscribers to a specific Pressible site if they already have a Pressible account.

Second method: Site Owners may be prompted to add users as follows: If an existing Pressible User uses your site’s “Contact > Add me to your site” feature (located in the site header), Site Owners will be sent a verification email that auto-fills the username/email on the Add User form in the Dashboard (same as above). When the Site Owner has selected the user’s role and clicked “Add User,” the user will be sent an invitation email at the email address you specified. Once verified via email, the user will be able to use your site according to the privileges you’ve set in the specified role.

I am the only person publishing on my site. Does Pressible work for single users?
Yes. On single user sites the following happens automatically:

Contributor links disappear

The People page link at the top right disappears

Your gravatar will not appear on every post

Keep in mind:

You can use your About page for a site description

You can add a People page at any time

You can add more users at any time; when you do, the multiple-user functionality will automatically turn on.

Social Badges
You can use the “Pressible Options” tab on the Dashboard to create small “social badges” (Facebook, Twitter, TC) on your site’s home page.

TC: Pressible is a TC-made tool, so this badge comes first! Use it to link to your department site (or your program’s site on Pressible).

Facebook: Please use a full URL.

Twitter: Use your Twitter username. You can also use this field to link to a Twitter search. Insert the text “search/thingtosearch”.